Posted on 03/13/2007 6:32:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Secular groups applauded Rep. Pete Stark for publicly acknowledging he does not believe in a supreme being. The declaration, they said, makes the California Democrat the highest-ranking elected official - and first congressman - to publicly claim to be an atheist.
The American Humanist Association took out an ad in the Washington Post on Tuesday, congratulating Stark's stance.
"With Stark's courageous public announcement of his nontheism, it is our hope that he will become an inspiration for others who have hidden their conclusions for far too long," the group's executive director, Roy Speckhardt, said in a statement.
Stark's beliefs garnered attention after the Secular Coalition for America offered a $1,000 prize to the person who could identify the "highest level atheist, agnostic, humanist or any other kind of nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States."
Associate director Ron Millar told the Los Angeles Times that the group wanted to highlight the difficulty that politicians have declaring they don't believe in God.
A member of American Atheists California nominated Stark.
"We didn't think we'd have any member of Congress come forward," Millar said.
Stark confirmed his belief in a statement to The Associated Press late Monday. He said he was "a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being."
"I look forward to working with the Secular Coalition to stop the promotion of narrow religious beliefs in science, marriage contracts, the military and the provision of social services," he wrote.
Unitarian Universalism describes itself as creedless, allowing members to shape their beliefs based on personal experience rather than an authoritative statement of religious belief. Some members believe in God, but not all do.
Stark has represented Fremont in Congress since 1973 and chairs the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Fortney Stark...living, breathing, walking, and most importantly, talking proof that Psalm 14:1 was right on the money.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness....
United States Declaration of Independence
Stark is a truly reprehensible human being.
And, they do not even realize that our lives on earth are fuller as we have access to the Creator of the Universe that we can talk to by prayer. We receive comfort as we grieve from that higher power and we see the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.
Yet, they just see what they themselves are able to generate and explain. They can never equal the power of God.
At least he's more up front about his atheism that the rest of the Democrats.
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